Stolen
by Florb26
Summary: (Cath/Sara AU Femmeslash, but nothing graphic - T) In a small school, buried deep in the countryside, there's a secret. Every year, one of the pupils is taken and they never come back. Until one day, Sara Sidle does. Returning to her girlfriend, she promises herself she'll try and make it end, but sometimes life can get in the way, and sometimes people get hurt trying to stop that.
1. Chapter 1

Catherine walked forwards and looked straight into Sara's deep brown eyes, searching for an answer, searching for emotion. Their fingers were touching. Even in her position, Catherine's touch made Sara feel better.

"You did this. For me. Why?"

"Because there was no way in hell I'm going to let them kill you. Not like everyone else they have." She pressed her head back.

"I don't want you to leave me though, not here, not like this"

Carefully, Sara took one of the ringlets that had fallen on Catherine's face and pushed in behind her ear. "Then I'm sorry. But I'll do my best to come back. _I promise._"

"Then I promise I'll pray every minute until you do"

Slowly, the two moved closer together into a loving embrace. No longer could Catherine hold her sadness. She buried her face into Sara's shoulder and let her built up tears fall. The sound of her tears were torture for Sara.

"Don't cry baby, I'll be okay."

They may have only been words, and yet somehow they were also a promise.

They moved together and kissed. Deep, passionate and from the heart. Both of them were aware as ever that it could easily be the last time that they ever even saw each other.

Out of the corner of her eye, Sara could see one of the men who were taking her walk nearer. She gave him a signal for one more second before she whispered in Catherine's ear.

_"__Throw me in the water. Don't think about the splash I will create."_

They pulled apart and looked each other dead in the eyes. They both smiled. And then Sara Sidle walked away, from everything and everyone she knew and treasured. Leaving behind the familiar sound of the corridor doors closing, the horses in the fields next to the school and the sound of people speaking about things which she cared so deeply about. Because she'd left her school now, she wasn't at home any more.

* * *

Sara's heart was pounding. She never thought she'd turn back up here, not alive, at least. She had no idea what to do. She opened the red painted door to the English corridor. It was still peeling in the same places it had been when she'd closed it that fateful day one year ago.

She walked down the English corridor, peering into all the classrooms as she went. She could still remember who taught in every one of the rooms, which sets they taught, even after all this time. She paused next to E1. That had been her English room, that was where she'd been taught the words of so many different authors.

When she walked through the science corridor, she paused for a long time. She knew exactly what she wanted to be when she was older. She wanted to be a scientist. She wanted to prove everyone wrong and show the world that even if you grow up in a place like this you can still be clever. She wanted to prove they weren't all stupid. Her biggest wish was, however, that she also wanted to save people from having their names picked out every September 1st. Having their names picked out in order for them to die in some research facility. She'd suffered at their hands herself now. But she still didn't want to give up her hope that one day the heartless torture would stop.

As she passed through the corridor, her heart nearly stopped when she heard footsteps. Instinctively, she ran away as fast as she could into a corner, and waited until the sound passed. Now she'd been allowed her life, she knew she'd have to toughen herself up all over again. She couldn't live like this, not in this fear.

The doors to the hall were closed. But the room was dark, but she could see the faces of hundreds of people illuminated inside by the light from a projector. She took one last breath before she pushed open the door.

Taking a cautious step forward, she pushed on the door. The sound of the seal moving reassured her. She stepped through and out of courtesy and also shyness held onto it for a while, to make sure it wasn't too noisy. She looked to her left to see who the speaker was. It was the local pastor. In an instant she felt bad about walking in, but as she turned to walk back out, there was a voice from behind her that made her heart stop.

"Sar'?"

Stopping dead in her tracks, she knew at once who had called her name. Catherine.

In a moment, the whole hall had become silent. Even the religious teachings had been paused to see if what was probably a miracle had happened. No one could believe that Sara was back. She was gone. She had been taken. She must be dead.

Without turning around, she sighed. "Cat."

* * *

As the two girls sat together on the rough ground, they looked deeply into one another's eyes. Their dresses were both flapping madly in the wind, the cheap, cotton fabric roughly hitting the ground as the wind ripped roughly around them. Their hands were entwined, cold fingers without feeling.

The storm clouds above them were hanging around for as long as they could, casting shadows as they rose and fell over the hills.

Sara stared wistfully at the sky, her lips pursed in deep thought. She couldn't easily find words to describe her internal struggle. She'd taken Catherine's place in what at the time seemed like a ticket to certain death. No-one had ever done that before, and no-one had ever come back alive either.

"Sara, you have no idea how sorry I am. It's all my fault they took you."

"It's my fault, I chose to take your place. I'm sorry for leaving you Cat, but I could never let them hurt you. You're too beautiful. We've got to look out for each other Cat. Otherwise they hurt us all." With the end of her sentence, Sara pecked her girlfriend on the cheek. It was a small gesture, but they both knew the true meaning. They'd forgiven each other, so now they simply had to move on, knowing that within hours, someone else was going to have their name called out. The only reassurance being that it couldn't be either of them.

As the wind slowly calmed, the Sara lay on the dusty ground, running her hands through Catherine's hair,whose head was laying on her chest. Neither of them was looking forward to tonight.

* * *

The school hall was now illuminated by hundreds of lights. There were camera crews and photographers. They were all so rich, they had so much money. They didn't have the threat of being sent away like animals, from their homes, from their families. They didn't have the tired look in their eyes, created only by having to live in a place like this, constantly hungry, constantly tired, constantly dreaming of a better life.

Sara and Catherine had been forced to dress up in clothes far too fancy for them. Catherine was in a light, bright blue dress, the fabric floating just above her knees, but hugging curves. She'd had her hair tugged at, since apparently her natural look wasn't good enough for the cameras. Instead of her natural ringlets, she instead had been made to have it up in a large bun at the back of her head, straightened. She'd never worn it like that before, which made her even more self-conscious about her appearance in front of the cameras which awaited her.

As she was about to step through the door, onto the main stage, something caught her eye. She could see Sara. She was dressed in much the same way, but her dress was far shorter, showing off her girlfriend's legs. It was red, with jewels around the neck. She could see that Sara was being forced to have her hair pushed into ringlets, the people around her treating her like some sort of object without feelings, doing to her hair exactly what Catherine had not been allowed to do. Sensing Sara's unease at the hands of the stylists, she decided to go and look after her. Who cared if hundreds of people were waiting for her. Sara needed her far more than them.

Sara looked up at Catherine. For what must've been the hundredth time they met each other's eyes. Catherine's ocean blue, wanting to help her, Sara's chocolate brown, needing support. Their gaze was broken suddenly when one of the stylists tugged far to hard on Sara's hair, causing her head to jerk suddenly to the side.

"Treat her with some respect!" Catherine shouted at the man, who backed away slightly, but not without shooting her an anything but friendly look. Without saying anything, she put her hand out, looking directly at the brush in the taller man's hand. He sighed heavily, smacking it hard into the palm of her hand. He muttered something underneath his breath, but Catherine blanked him out, instead staring at the beautiful girl in front of her.

Smiling, she took the brush in her hand and as gently as she could she brushed through Sara's hair. Within minutes, her hair was just as it was meant to be, set around her head, lightly waving every few inches, floating lightly, the air taking it every time her head bobbed even slightly.

"You look beautiful, Sar'"

"So do you Catherine, but, your hair..."

Before Catherine had a chance to tell Sara she hadn't had her hair ruined by choice, the two of them were pushed next to the door of the stage. As they held hands for re-assurance, the words that they heard through the doors which came next confirmed their worst fears. They were picking someone else to send away. As the silence cascaded around the school, the words which crept through the seal of the door were unmistakeable.

"And this year, the name of the person we'll be taking with us is..."

Rustling. Hushed sobs. Whispers of comfort.

"Warrick Brown!"

As the camera crew and others from the research facility cheered, Sara and Catherine buried each other in an embrace, tears beginning to fall already. They were about to another of their friends, and everyone knew that the miracle which had allowed Sara to come back hope alive was not going to happen twice.

* * *

**A/N: **Sorry that this first chapter sucks. I know everyone is very OOC, but I basically just had to set the scene and as of next chapter, things should be a little more, well, consistent. Also, I know this is very Hunger Games-esqe. But I've got writers block, k? And although I'm a HG fan, I don't want to copy it so don't worry.

I haven't published for ages, and I'm sorry. I'm mid-way through a chapter of Taffy's Braids, honestly, I'm just struggling a bit with school at the moment, mostly because now I've come out as lesbian, well, you can kind of read between the lines with that one. So I simply had to write a Femmeslash lol. Just to make me feel better about myself.

Also, I'd like to point out the song which Sara quotes before she leaves is 'Landfill', by Daughter. This fic is actually based from another of Daughter's songs, - 'Youth' - which is amazing.

So if you'd like more of this fic, please let me know. If you don't review then yeah, I get the message lol :P

Anyywayyy, see yah soon! Florb x


	2. Chapter 2

Sara clutched onto Catherine's arm as they were led onto their seats. The stage was lit brightly and it occurred to Catherine that everything that they did or said could - would be seen by everyone who was there. However, she had little need to worry about this, for little did she know that now the whole school was in mourning already over the imminent loss of Warrick. They had little care for the events of this interview. They were looking forward to it as much as Catherine and Sara.

The minutes passed slowly. Sara clearly didn't feel like talking any more after a certain point and it was Catherine who had to answer all of the questions which were being thrown at them by the interviewer. He was a large man. He seemed to be somewhat happy that Warrick had been chosen, and that Sara and Catherine were clearly taking a large amount of displeasure to being interviewed. His name was Jeffrey McKeen.

He was asking a question about how Sara and Catherine had got together when it happened. He leaned over the wooden arm rest, over Catherine's lap and forced the microphone into Sara's face. He knew he was pushing it. He knew that he was too close to her. He also knew that Sara wouldn't have anything to say to him anyway.

"So, Sara, how did your relationship begin? Do you think it'll be over any time soon?"

As he spoke, his breath crawled all over her face. It suffocated her. Sara wrinkled her nose in disgust at first, she shook her head to the side, facing straight to the lights, away from the probing microphone. But within moments, there was a smell underlying it that triggered something in the back of her mind. His words became instantly familiar.

_His breath was all over her. She still couldn't move her arm from last night. It still hurt a lot. She couldn't fight him off. She was too starved. She was to pained to even try any more. She did what she always did. She tried to blank it out. She tried to remember home. She tried to think of things which made her happy. Catherine._

_ She knew should've realised sooner that something was wrong when the guard locked the door with him on the inside. It was obvious, but Sara's sharp mind hadn't been alert enough to realise. She only noticed something was wrong when he began to approach her. He wasn't meant to do that. She wasn't to be touched by anyone for 3 days. She remembered being told that. Or at least she thought she did._

_ He began to pin her down. She began to try and push him off. But her efforts were fruitless. He told her it'd be over soon. His breath was soggy, clingy. It stuck to her face for hours after he'd left._

Sara screamed.

Catherine grabbed onto her to try and calm her down, but it was no use. Sara was clearly trapped in a moment of internal turmoil. She was thrashing around, throwing her arms at Catherine in some form of self defence, tears streaming down her face, instantly smudged black make up surrounding her panic stricken eyes.

"GET OFF ME! DON'T TOUCH ME! DON'T! STOP! Please.. stop... _please_."

Sobs, gushes, gasps. Although she was still shaking violently, she was now a lot quieter, her body racking with sobs. Aftershocks of what she had been through.

Catherine could hear Jeffrey chuckling behind her. That was the last she could take of this. Using her initiative, she decided that she needed to get Sara away from here. Away from the spotlights, the torment. And, so, she grabbed her arms with a sense of authority. Sara looked up at her in surprise, her pained eyes clearly showing that she hadn't been expecting the sudden man-handling.

She spoke quietly to her girlfriend. "Sara, baby, come with me okay. I don't think it's doing you any good to be here." Catherine spoke to Sara with as much seriousness as she could muster. She was as upset as Sara, simply because it hurt her to see someone who she loved this much in this much upset.

Most of the people in the hall were now sat up straight in their seats. They knew disobedience like this was severely punished. Surely, Catherine wouldn't really take Sara out of the hall. They had to stay until they were all dismissed. That was how it had always worked.

Yet now Catherine didn't care about how they were meant to behave. She pulled Sara out of her seat and turned to face the school.

"I'm, er, sorry. But I think we both need a chance, to just, uh, calm down." Catherine had lost her confidence as soon as she had faced the school. Bur she hadn't lost the will to get Sara out of there. And so, in the same fashion as she had made her decision, she carried it out, taking Sara's hand and walking with her off the stage. Behind her, she could hear McKeen shouting at them to get back onto the stage. His face was red, he was angry. Then the doors shut behind them. They didn't hear what happened next.

"Sara! Are you okay? What happened in there beaut'?" Catherine asked, her concern was clear. Obvious. Her blue eyes were trying to catch Sara's face, to try and work out what she was thinking.

They were back on the hill again. There was a lot of noise coming form the hall. It was clear that by leaving they'd made a lot of people very unhappy.

"It just got to me." Sara stated, giving little away.

From somewhere behind them a rain cloud had formed, and now that the wind had blown it slowly, directly towards them, it had finally opened up. Surrounding them now were rain drops, speeding through the air, gravity pulling them down to earth. They were both getting completely soaked by this unexpected downpour, however neither seemed to mind.

It was at this moment Sara turned to face Catherine. Catherine took Sara's hand, to show her that she was there, to let her know that she was going to be okay. Sara's eyes were no longer red and puffy. She'd stopped crying. She'd recovered her inner strength.

"I don't remember any of it." Sara stated, throwing her hand up into the air.

"What?" Confusion covered her face.

"I mean, I don't remember anything that happened to me. They must've made me forget Cath, because I was there for a year, and I can't recall anything that happened to me. But today," Sara sighed. Her admittance was painful. "Today something made me remember, but it didn't just make me remember, you know? It was like I was there all over again. I was... I was scared, Cat."

Catherine looked at Sara, with a mixture of disgust and pain on her face. She could see that Sara needed her, but she was herself in some sort of shock. They'd made her forget, but not truly, because Sara had remembered when she was on the stage.

Taking Catherine's silence as a sign that Catherine was somehow disgusted in her, for forgetting, or even for remembering, she stood up to leave. Catherine was stone still. Sara released a small sigh before she walked away.

"Wait." Catherine stated. She held little emotion in her voice, although something in Sara's heart told her that really she did care, she was merely having a hard time dealing with it. "What did you remember Sara, when you were on that stage. You were frightened."

Catherine had still not turned to face Sara, but Sara spoke anyway. "I don't know. I was on my own, but I wasn't, because there was a guard. And I was trying to fight him off Cat, I was. But something was wrong with my arm. I couldn't. He said to me, you know," Sara sobbed, but wiped away her face hastily with her arm, in an attempt to show herself that she was able to defy her own tears, "he said, 'It'll be over soon'. But it wasn't Cat, he didn't stop." It was at this point that Sara gave up. She allowed her sobs to be aloud, however the wind and the rain was drowning them out somewhat.

Catherine stood to her feet. She had been crying. She walked over to Sara, and hugged her. They held each other, each seeking comfort in the other's embrace. The wind was blowing, and the rain was making their dresses damp, if not ruining them. But neither of them cared, for now they both knew that they were once again reunited. And that once again they were going to look after each other.

"You looked after me when I needed you Sar'. I'm going to do the same for you now babe." A kiss.

Shouts. Noise. Uproar. Rebellion.

The scene in the school hall was chaos. There was mess everywhere. Most noticeable of all however, was the large number of chairs that were being thrown at the camera crew, their cameras, but even more so, Jeffrey McKeen.

A window smashing.

After Catherine had taken Sara away, everyone had used it as an excuse as to why they hated them being chosen every year. The people who they were meant to fear were now no use over the large group of hundreds of school children who were taking all of their anger out on them. The loss of their friends, family members.

Blood from a head wound.

As the crew made a quick escape, they left behind all of their equipment. They could do far worse than this to the pupils here. They controlled their lives without them even realising. If only the pupils themselves had realised that at the time.

* * *

**A/N:** I hope you like this chapter. I'm sorry for not updating sooner, I've had this open as a text document for about two weeks, adding the odd paragraph every day :P

I was going to make Nick the instigator of all of this violence but then I decided he can do something important later on. Which he is, if my plans are kept to, next chapter.

Please review if you have the time x :)

Florb x


	3. Chapter 3

Throughout Tuesday, there was an atmosphere that no one could quite place throughout the school. It was one of fear, and apprehension of what would happen them because of the choices they had made, but there was also still a feeling of rebellion in the air. That every one who had been there would be prepared to fight again, if it meant standing up for themselves, if it meant standing up for what they believed was right.

Sara and Catherine had found out after school what had happened when Nick had come and spoken to them at the hill. They were both overcome with feelings of guilt, especially Sara, but had agreed to help clear up the mess that had been made as a result of the riot. Really, it was the least they could do, although none of it was through any fault of their own.

As Sara was sweeping up some of the glass, she looked at it carefully. It was shattered into a thousand pieces, but somehow it still looked pretty. Familiar. It didn't take a genius to guess where it had come from – the window above where it had all landed was missing. Nick had promised he'd try and tape it up with some cardboard, claiming that he had been the person who smashed it. Although this confession had at the time surprised Sara, she could now, after some thought, imagine Nick doing that for her.

Most of their other friends had also turned up to volunteer for the clean up- Morgan, Finn, Greg, Sofia, Archie and even Warrick. Although they'd told him that they were fine to do it themselves, and that he should go and do whatever he wanted to, he insisted that he helped them with the work. There was a part of him that felt guilty, selfish even that the events had happened.

Catherine wasn't working, but was instead gossiping, which hardly came as a surprise to anyone. She was talking to Warrick and Sofia about what had happened. All three were trying to ignore the main topic they wanted to talk about though. They wanted to know whether anyone had said that they'd take his place, and if not, how long they had left to say their goodbyes. They'd been told that they had a week, though they knew that they could very rarely trust the information that was given to them any more.

As the bell for lunch rang, the group gathered together in the centre and picked up their satchels from the large pile which had been created in the corner of the room. As they walked to the canteen, they discussed the previous day's events.

It was still a slightly awkward topic for discussion, since no-one, and with fair reason, really wanted to remind Sara of what had happened on the stage yesterday. But on an equal other hand, what had happened after the fact was the main topic of discussion for the rest of the school. None of them had ever seen anything like it, so no one knew what they should expect as payback for it.

Greg was the first person to strike up a conversation between the group, however it was not on the topic which everyone was expecting.

"So, anyone know what's for lunch today?"

"Man, is that really all you care about?" Warrick joked, which brought a small smile to everyone's faces. Other than that, the trip down the snaking network of corridors and into the food hall was uninteresting, and their lunch break passed without incident.

* * *

As the bell rang for the end of the day, the group of friends said their goodbyes before they each headed their own way home. Sara grabbed onto Catherine and pulled her into a hug. Catherine grabbed her back and held onto her tightly for a few seconds, allowing herself a moment to forget everything, and make the most of the embrace which she had never imagined she would have to go without a year ago, before relaxing it slightly so that she was able to look into the beautiful, deep brown eyes beneath her.

Smiling, she asked, "Hey hey! What was that for Sar'?"

"Because I love you" Sara replied, burying her head into Catherine's shoulder. The two remained hanging onto each other for what seemed like eternity, until one of their teachers walked up behind them.

"You should go home girls, it gets dark quicker than you think!" The woman winked at them, and Catherine couldn't help but smile back. As the older, brown haired woman walked away, Sara looked up at Catherine.

"I guess she's right. I'll, uh, see you tomorrow Cat." Sara smiled up at her red-headed girlfriend, and let her go, before making her way down the corridor and pushing the door open. Catherine stayed leaning against the poorly painted wall, her mind racing. The cool air ripped over her legs as the gust of wind from the door rushed over her. She sighed, before pushing herself up from the wall and walking down the corridor where Sara had walked moments before.

She was about to round the corner at the top when she saw Grissom walk over to her. She smiled at him and raised a hand, but carried on walking. He was one of the most interesting people she'd ever spoken too, he seemed sure of himself, but he was also very clever and so in sense he had the right to be sure of himself. However right now all Catherine wanted to do was go home and sleep, as much as Grissom's wise words usually interested her. Without him, she would never have got involved with the school's science department at all.

He had also been on the school council for as long as she had been able to remember, and he had made changes for the school. Not the ones which it needed most, given, but he had made it a little more bearable. It was probably a good thing that he had never been chosen whilst he was in the lower school, since it would have been a very different place without him.

Instead of passing her with an equally tired smile like Catherine had expected, Grissom took his chance on her vulnerable state and pinned her up against the wall, one arm pinning just underneath her neck, the other balled in a fist just to the right of her right cheek. She tried to shift his uncomfortable arm from her chest, but instead he pushed it down harder onto her breastbone, making it slightly painful for her to breath.

Catherine glared at him, anger crossing her features, as well as a little confusion. "What do you, what.." She paused to grab a breath, gasping loudly. "do you, want?" She continued to try and struggle to get him off her, but her efforts were fruitless.

"Sara. She's mine, Catherine." He growled at her, his voice louder than she was used to, but not loud enough to arouse the attention of any teachers who might happen to be nearby.

"What?! We're laying claims to her now?!" She was shouting now, whether he liked it or not. She was also starting to sweat on her forehead, the anger coming straight from her heart to her mouth. She gasped again as he pushed he onto the wall harder. "She's my girlfriend though, if that's what you mean, you son-of-a-bitch!" The fury was showing in her eyes, but unfortunately she didn't see the rage in his before he punched her as hard as he could in the jaw.

He removed his arm, allowing Catherine to gasp loudly at the sudden allowing for her to breath, before both of her knees instantaneously gave way beneath her and she fell awkwardly onto her side in the corridor. A small tear was creeping down her face from the pain, as well as a sliver of blood coming from her mouth. Her jaw was causing her huge amounts of pain, though luckily she was sure that there was nothing broken, and all of her teeth were firmly in place.

She thought that it would be over after that, but clearly she had hit a nerve somewhere inside him. As she lay on the cold floor covering the throbbing side of her face with her hand, he kicked her in the stomach, winding her completely. She gasped from the new wave of pain and instinctively curled her body up. In return he kicked her in the same place again, however this time it lead to a distinctive pain in both of her arms, and Catherine felt like she could already feel the bruises forming.

"Sara is mine, Catherine, so leave her alone." He walked off without saying another word to her. She carried on lying on the floor for another hour before someone found her, still sobbing. Not just for the pain, but from the heartbreak of someone else saying that Sara was theirs, when it was Catherine who had waited a year to have the light of her life back.

* * *

**A/N: **I'm not dead! Which is a surprise really because I haven't actually updated for about 20 years.

Anywayy I hope that you liked it, even though it is short and awful and that you carry on enjoying to read it :)

Reviews are always nice, but I don't expect them since I haven't updated for ages, oops :P

Florb x


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